Bridget Zinn

Very sad news. YA author Bridget Zinn died in the hospital from pneumonia. Her debut book comes out in 2012. Please pray for her husband and family. :-(

My Interview, You Know You Wanna Read It

Come join me today over at J.C. Martin, Fighter Writer

And follow this gal, she has an excellent blog full of golden writerly stuff. 'Nuff said? :-)

Bailey said to...

buy lotsa books at your LOCAL bookstore. This does NOT mean to order from Amazon. K? This is Bailey's post over at the cool place to hang: The Literary Lab

Er, I did the only thing I could do. Copied and pasted. *wink*

My agent, Weronika Janczuk, forwarded this email to me a week or so ago and I forgot to post about it here:

Hi everyone,

I’ve gotten sick of reading the bookstore obituaries in the publishing news, so I’m starting a viral campaign to get people, on one day, to go buy books from their local bookstore. Might not end up changing the tides, but it’s something small I can do and I’m getting a good response so far. Here are the details for you to pass on to your friends/family/fellow booklovers:

Who: You and all the book-lovers in your life
When: June 25th, the first Saturday of Summer!
Where: Your local bookstore (and if you don’t have one near you, Powell’s ships)
Why: Because bookstores are dropping like flies and we want them to stay alive

Thanks for passing this along to whomever you think would want to get on board.

Warmest,
Kelly

Kelly Sonnack
Andrea Brown Literary Agency


Prefer to read on your *!*%$ (I left out a blank, blank word from Bailey) Walmazart Kindle? Then buy a book for a book-lover you know!

Mark your calendars! DO IT!

So there you have it peeps. PLEASE, PLEASE SAVE YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE.  And pop over to follow The Literary Lab writerly pals of mine if you don't all ready. They're awesomely cool.  Uh-huh. :-)

 A perfectly healthy sentence, it is true, is extremely rare. For the most part we miss the hue and fragrance of the thought; as if we could be satisfied with the dews of the morning or evening without their colors, or the heavens without their azure.-Henry David Thoreau

Days Six and Seven of NaPiBoWriWee

YAY. All the delectable chocolate you peeps sent to me must have done the trick. I have SEVEN picture book drafts. YAY. *toot* *toot*

This is the last day of NaPiBoWriWee. *sniff* Sorry to see it end, but now comes the shining. Yanno? The manuscript shining. Making these stories all sparkly and glittery. And I can't wait to get started. What fun that will be.

Thanks for all your support. I COULD NOT have done this without you.

And to all my NaPiBoWriWee peeps. If you've finished the challenge, *confetti* Celebrate. :-)

Uh, er, toot your horn. You deserve it.

NaPiBoWriWee Day Five

I hope today goes as well as day five went. I wrote a story about one of our horses, Lady Shamrock. She is the real commander on the farm. All the animals DO her bidding. Even Charlie. It is funny to watch her in action. She doesn't talk in this book, but you definitely get her. She's a great horse character.

 I now have FIVE not stinko picture book drafts. *bows* Now comes the revision. *sigh* Has ANYONE ever written a first draft that is ready for an agent or editor's eyes?

Two days left. Today and tomorrow. MORE CHOCOLATE PLEASE. (^_^)

NaPiBoWriWee Day Four

Okay, I wrote a book about one of Ivy's barn cats. He has an attitude down at the barn. Like he's the head honcho and can't be bothered by his two sisters and brother. So I decided it was time to bring him down a notch. Er, in the book. :-) CHARLIE, the BLACK CAT is my little title. It was fun to write.

Writing picture books requires one to use as many different words as possible. Fun words. Action verbs. These days they like the word count under five-hundred words. Quacker is seven-hundred words, but he needed every one of those words to have his story told.

Every picture book has three things in common. Some kind of trouble, the child/animal must solve the trouble without an adult's assistance, and NO PREACHING. And. These stories must have a lasting quality. Today, tomorrow, and forever.

All writers have to remember who we are writing for. Besides ourselves. The children. For me at least.

So send more chocolate for today. And cake too. :-) Three days left. And I'll have seven not stinko first drafts. :-)

NaPiBoWriWee Day Three

Day three went off without a hitch. I wrote a very promising first draft. It is rough, but I will work on this one after I work on the story about my Christopher. It has to do with a little boy named Humphrey. That name just came to me and I'm sticking with it. :-)

If you've ever been a child you can write a children's book. And I KNOW most of you reading this have been through childhood. ;-)

I believe that we all still have the little child living inside of us. So I call on that kid when I am writing a picture book. (Hubby says I sometimes act like a child. This is not the same meaning as calling on my inner child when I write.) Humph to hubby! *wink*

For writers to write they must also read. I read anything and everything. Right now I am reading a devotional called, He said She said. Yep, I read 'big people' books too.

A picture book I am about to start is Big Rabbit's Bad Mood. It is a a wonderful story about being in a BAD mood. Children everywhere can relate. (My inner child can connect.) It was written by Ramona Badescu. So let's go and create. :-)

Day Two of NaPiBoWriWee

Yesterday was day two and I wrote another picture book first draft. The story idea for this came from the hubby on Sunday. He knew I was brainstorming and gave a really cute story idea. So when it is published, I will have to dedicate it to him. *wink*

It isn't easy writing a picture book. Young kids are a tough audience and a writer must write tight (showing) and choose strong, powerful verbs that holds their interest. Adjectives are great. But they have to be chosen carefully.

I love writing picture books. And I love writing funny picture books.  All children love funny, they love to giggle.

So far I'm doing great. But tomorrow is another day. ;-)

Wish me luck. Anyone have chocolate?

NaPiBoWriWee and What Else I'm Up To

I'm doing a picture book a day for seven days this first week of May. I wrote the first one yesterday. It was about my son Christopher. Most of you know he was born with a rare brain disorder called Sturge-Weber Syndrome. A port wine birthmark covers his body. Usually it is just on a part of the face and/or head, but Christopher has the more rare form of the disorder. A lot of health issues go along with it, which is why we visit Chapel Hill hospital a lot. Though these days the visits aren't every week. They are every month or two. YAY! He is my miracle and I have wanted to write this story for a long time. So yesterday was the day. It's just a first draft, but it will be the first one I ready for publication. The story centers around the fact that Christopher has ALWAYS wanted to be treated like a normal person by the world outside of his family. That has NEVER been the case. He has ALWAYS been treated differently. People stare. One lady confronted us in the grocery store one day and informed me that she had make-up to cover it up. So he's hoping this picture book will help others to see, he's the same inside as you and me. (I did a little rhyme there.) *wink*

Wish me luck today. This is tons of fun and it isn't just national anymore. Writers from England and Australia are coming along for the ride.

Plus, I'm beta reading a most wonderful middle grade story and I'm hoping to finish it this week.

What are you up to? :-) I hope you have a great week. I'll blog about National Picture Book Writing Week. And whatever else happens to come up. Then next week I'll go back to Monday and Friday blogging.  XXXXXOOOOO

I almost forgot to say, CONGRADS to American military and C.I.A. operatives. It HAS been a LONG time coming.

A huge thank you to...

Arlee Bird Tossing It Out

Jeffrey Beesler World of the Scribe

Alex J. Cavanaugh Alex J. Cavanaugh

Jen Daiker Unedited

Candace Ganger Candyland

Karen J Gowen Coming Down the Mountain

Talli Roland

Stephen Tremp Breakthrough Blogs

for the A to Z challenge. Everyone had a great time meeting new bloggers and I got through X pretty much unscathed. *wink*

And to Author Elizabeth Mueller  for the lovely award for us all to proudly display.

*blows kisses* to the sponsors. (^_^)